Black nails, Doc Martens, and a sour attitude: a classic formula for your local edgy kid. Sterling, or the Whiteside County itself, has a wide range of people, with their own little cliques. 

One clique I’ve been particularly interested in is the local rock bands and their community. There are a plethora of bands from the 815, and for the past month, I’ve been basically following them as they play around Whiteside and Lee counties.

  On February 4th, I went to the Rosbrook Studio in Dixon, Ill., when they were hosting a show that was set up by a local music promoter, Hunter Williams. Williams, and with the help of musician Hayden Sweet (from Half Catholic, and Sugarpill), were able to have five bands play that night. The bands were (in order of appearance): The Scummies from Rock Falls, House Of Animals from Davenport, Iowa, The Present Age from Madison, Wisconsin, Totally Cashed from Chicago, and Sugarpill, from Sterling. 

  All the bands were electrifying and the crowd of like 70+ people were just amazing. The community for these bands are passionate, lively, and genuine. The bands themselves played like there was no tomorrow and showed off how talented they really are. Most of the music played was hardcore, punk, post-punk, indie, and alt-rock. 

  On February 18, I went to K’s Korner in Sterling to see The Cherry Tarts from Dixon, Scam Likely from Milwaukee, Vision Without from Sterling, and The Scummies for the second time. Now this show was different, in the sense, I was able to interview Vision Without and The Scummies. 

 The first band I interviewed was The Scummies. With such an interesting name, it’s natural to be curious about where it came from. “Me and Alex got that name from the time we worked at a mall and we didn’t like a coworker of ours. So we called him a Scummie,” said band member Rowland Smelly.

With inspiration coming from Chumbawamba, MayDay Parade, and Limp Biscuit, the band has a unique sound and are excited about the future. “We have a single coming out, Pennie on the wall, we might hit the road for a tour, and this summer we have a possible EP coming out that we cannot name at this time,” said Smelly. 

Vision Without is a motivated band whose name has changed since they first started. “It started with nothing but hate, but we didn’t want to write about only hating stuff so we went through a book and found Vision Without,” said the band. “We have got a couple things in a store. We are thinking about a split with another band and hopefully a release of our own album of ours out at the beginning of next year.” 

  Both bands were really fun to watch and interview, and both bands stated that the local band community is really supportive of everyone; so if you were looking to start a band, go out and do it. There are going to be people supporting you, and if it feels right, then it feels right. So this is your message to go support our local artist and maybe it’s time for you to start a band.